We left Portland, Oregon in the afternoon and headed east toward Indianapolis, Indiana. Our first stop was Boise, Idaho, where we stayed the night and were able to briefly meet up with our comedian friend Pat Mac. We talked a little business, and he gave us some recommendations for our first visit to Yellowstone National Park. We headed east again and made it to West Yellowstone, Montana, where we planned to camp for the night. We walked around and checked out the town, which appeared to consist almost entirely of expensive hotels, campgrounds full of huge RVs (with multiple slideouts), gas stations, a few restaurants, and very touristy shops. Okay, there were also several painted bison:
painted buffalo statue in West Yellowstone, MT
Okay, there was also a nice looking museum, but we didn't have time to go through it. Anyway, we browsed for a bit and bought souvenirs at the blowout sale of a store closing for the season, then we inquired about a place to stay for the night. Even on the discount hotel websites the rooms in West Yellowstone were over $200/night (that's a no go for us), and they wanted over $100/night for a small cabin (also not our speed). Apparently recent rains had washed out all the tent camping in town, so were were recommended to go to Bakers Hole Campground just north of town. We got there in the dark to drive around and find the campground full. We didn't feel like paying a fortune for a few hours of sleep, so we opted to clear a spot to sleep in the car. It wasn't the best night of sleep either of us got, but the price was right. So, the next morning we headed into Yellowstone National Park on what turned out to be a gorgeous day.
We went in the west entrance, where the road follows alongside the Madison River. Then we turned south onto the Grand Loop Road. Of course, the first place we saw people pulled off and taking photos we had to follow suit. We were greeted with a beautiful view of a resting buffalo with the steaming Lower Geyser Basin in the distance.
Bison near Lower Geyser Basin in Yellowstone Nat'l Park
At Lower Geyser Basin it looked we were on another planet. The immediate area looked dead, populated only by steaming crevices, bubbling mud pots, and a variety of caustic looking pools.
Middle Geyser Basin and, you guessed it, Upper Geyser Basin were next. We saw hot springs, spouting domes, fuming lakes thick with noxious fog, and steaming streams that emptied into the appropriately named Firehole River (bet it's nice and toasty, but I wouldn't eat the fish). Cara's favorite feature (though it was much more impressive in person than in photos) was Grand Prismatic Spring. The bright orange of the surrounding microbial mats blended into deep blue of the hot spring and created an incredible rainbow effect.
steaming streams empty into the Firehole River
Grand Prismatic Spring
Next stop was Old Faithful. We hadn't looked up the time it was supposed to erupt, but we couldn't have timed it better. We had a good amount of time to check out the nice Interpretive Center there before we headed out to watch the famous geyser. It wasn't long before we were rewarded with our photographic opportunity, although a very short-lived storm cloud did pass over us just as Old Faithful was erupting.
eruption at Old Faithful
video of Old Faithful erupting
The Old Faithful area offered a plethora of thermal features, each seemingly different. Here is just a super small sampling of what you see around this area:
Several campgrounds in the park were closed for the season, but we were able to find a site in Grant Village Campground. The next day we checked out the West Thumb Basin, which is a smaller caldera inside the greater Yellowstone caldera. That is another very cool area, with several hot springs at the shores of Yellowstone Lake. (Apparently people used to catch fish in the lake and cook them right there in the hot springs, at least until they discovered that it made the fish toxic.)
We continued our driving tour of Yellowstone, and Cara had just commented about the surprising lack of wildlife sightings when we rounded a corner to find a buffalo ambling along the road before finally crossing over into the woods.
Our next stop was the Mud Volcano area. A foreboding sign was the metal storm drain that had been half eaten away by the caustic gasses coming from the area:
Other cool features found at the Mud Volcano area were Churning Cauldron, Dragon's Mouth Spring, and Mud Cauldron. As we were leaving this area, we were also treated to the site of a herd of buffalo grazing on a roadside hilltop.
Churning Caldron
Dragon's Mouth Spring
Mud Caldron
grazing buffalo
In the late afternoon we made it up to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to see the Upper and Lower Falls. We were most impressed by the south rim views.
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone - view of Lower Falls
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
Upper Falls as seen from the north rim
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
As we were leaving Yellowstone (via the Northeast exit) we saw a Pronghorn Antelope (not really an antelope) by the side of the road. We also saw tons of people on a hillside with high powered lenses looking across the road at a bear doing something. We couldn't see the details, but we later learned it was a bear feasting on a dead buffalo.
We set out to do a one tank RV trip on the Oregon Coast for one week. On Tuesday we picked up the RV from RVsToGo in Portland Oregon. We ended up with the perfect
unit and it had a backup camera and a compact design. It drove like a car and had tons of
power. We tracked the mileage but did not really know how to factor in the generator. We used the generator for about 5-10 hours on the trip, we travelled 334 miles and got about 7 miles to the gallon if you assume that the generator used no fuel at all. If it used 1 gallon per hour then we got closer to 9 MPG.
This is the RV that we stayed in for a week
Our goal was to do a one week and one tank trip of the
Oregon Coast. Grant from RVs To Go helped
us with some suggestions and we took his advice.
We started off by heading to Newport Oregon. This is a port city and an old city and it has a
lighthouse. The city has a big harbor and a long seawall that protects the harbor. This creates two huge beaches as sand gets deposited next to the harbor entrance.
They have an interesting area along the harbor where the sights, sounds, and smells of active fish processors mingles with restaurants, dive bars, and touristy shops.
click to enlarge and read
A newport attraction, but not the main aquarium
The harbor attracts lots of loud sea lions that bark and fuss at each other non stop.
there are a lot of sea lions in Newport
The port is bustling with fishing vessels of all sizes
There is a HUGE sandy patch
(the picture does a poor job of scale)
While in Newport, we visited the Yaquina Bay lighthouse, walked on the beach and checked out the town. In all we spent 2 nights in the area and we just stayed in the RV on the city street and nobody cared.
Yaquina Bay Lighthouse
Yaquina Bay Lighthouse (see it peaking up from the back)
The next day we picked up and headed north to the Yaquina Head lighthouse. This proved to be very interesting.
it rained that day, but the lighthouse looked cool in the mist
The Lighthouse would have burnt oil. They said
it could burn kerosene, whale oil, or rendered pig fat
this is the outside of the Fresnel lens
The spiral staircase was made from cast iron and was very cool
After the lighthouse we stopped at Depoe Bay and walked around and checked things out. This is billed as the worlds smallest harbor. There is supposed to be a waterspout when it is rough seas. The water is forced into lava tubes then shoots up.
click and you can read the sign
the Main drag
We stopped in Lincoln City for a while and then headed north to the Chinook Winds Casino. We never win at casinos unless we go and get free slot play and then immediately cash out once you have spun out your free spins. Cara won 6 bucks and Eric won 26 bucks. Then we got a 9 dollar "surf and turf" dinner. You never know what you are gonna get, but in this case it was pretty much a dud.
Overall the Casino treated us right. We got a free night's stay, a great beach to enjoy, a 2 dollar breakfast buffet and 35 bucks won with their free slot play.
by the Chinook Winds Casino there is a very nice beach
.
the beach near Chinook Winds Casino
a very beautiful sunset near Lincoln Oregon
On Friday, Sept 6 we ate a big buffet at Chinook Winds Casino then we worked for a while and went to Cascade Head and went on the three capes scenic loop which is a driving trail. We made it up to Pacific City and stayed the night on the street by the Pelican Brewery. This was a very interesting area and according to the eccentric lady, this is the only place in the world that they launch dory boats from a sandy beach.
The three pics below are from 3 capes loop....there were many nice vistas
3 capes loop
3 capes loop
tide pool at Pacific City
Pacific City Beach
Pacific City Beach
launching a dory boat at Pacific City
panoramic picture of Pacific City Beach (click for a big pic)
The next morning we got up and headed to Cape Lookout, the Cape Meares Lighthouse, and then to Tillimook.
cape lookout had a couple of trails and a large beach
We noticed a hang glider and caught the sequence below
Next we progressed up the coast for a few miles to visit the Cape Meares Lighthouse. This is a very short lighthouse with an interesting story.
This is the RV that we stayed in for a week
Cape Meares is the shortest lighthouse in Oregon
The views were magnificent at the lighthouse
The whole light structure rotated on these bearings and was powered by gravity pulling weights down
look through the center and you will see that things are upside down
A couple of years ago 2 guys got drunk and came down and shot up the lighthouse. They were caught and are no doubt still paying. They patched the lens, but did not fix the lighthouse. Instead it is a now a monument to their stupidity.
Next we walked around the tiny town of Nehalem before going to nearby Manzanita.
this is a picture of Nehalem Bay
Nehalem Bay State Park
Manzanita is a cool town with a big beach. It is adjacent to Nehalem bay and Nehalem Bay State Park.
The beach was very windy that day.
If you look in the distance you will see tons of kite surfers
It looks fun to kite surf
lots of people were catching big air
That night we stayed in Manzanita by a bank and left early the next morning. The next stop was Oswald West State Park and Beach. There was a nice 1/2 mile trail to a secluded beach. Under low tide you could have passed to other beaches. The beach was bordered on both sides by cliffs that jutted into the ocean.
cool bridge on the trail to the beach
nice tide pools
Then we headed north to Hug Point state recreation area and went to that beach.
Next we headed north to Ecola State park. There was a tricky narrow road with some low hanging branches near the edge of the road. I had to pause a few times to let cars by, but nothing ever brushed the RV roof. The trip was worth it and we got a good view of the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.
Next we headed off to Seaside. Seaside is a decent sized town and looks like a town that has been a big tourist town since the 30's or something. It was a lot of fun to explore this touristy town.
I didn't eat there, but I liked the sign. The yelp reviews were terrible.
You too can do this trip....all you have to do is to go to www.PortlandRVRentals.com and book your rental RV from RVs to Go.
